Friday, May 08, 2009

Is This Lois’s Lane?

Must Be The Ripple Effect

Photographs copyright: DAVID McMAHON

I’ve been a swimmer since as far back as I can remember, but sometimes it takes us years to notice the littlest details about our surroundings. I’ve been waiting a few weeks for a chance to take some generic shots at a swimming pool, and the perfect opportunity was Anzac Day last Saturday.

A few days earlier, I rang a large, well-regarded indoor pool and explained that I wanted to come in and take some generic shots early one morning before they opened for business. As the pool was only due to open at 1pm on Anzac Day, it was agreed that I would rock up at 12.30 and spend about twenty minutes there with my camera before the doors opened.

While I walked from one end of the main pool to the other, I stopped briefly and fired off a couple of frames of a single lane rope tethered to its metal retainer. Because there was no one in the pool, the surface of the water was absolutely calm. Also, because it is an indoor pool, there was no breeze.

It was only when I got home and viewed the images on my computer that I spotted something that had escaped me at the pool. The rippling effect, caused by surface tension of the water around the plastic lane marker, is clearly visible.

Now I’ll just have to wait for the next public holiday to take some close-up shots of the same view. Stay tuned.

It is amazing how you can make the simplest of things into an exciting photo, David & I do love your *photo gallery* and the brilliant colours & composition of your work.Brightens anyone's day just looking at the loveliness.

What amazes me, is how these shots give a feeling of the depth of the cool, clear water under the red discs. Does that come from the actual image, or from my mind knowing water depth is the third dimension of the photo?

Hit Parade

It Ain't Hollow, So They Follow (Thank you Mercury and Apollo!)

About Me

For a free wedding photography quote, go to davidmcmahonweddings.com. I am a Walkley Award-nominated journalist, wedding photographer and bestselling novelist. My first novel, `Vegemite Vindaloo', was published in April 2006 by Penguin Books India and was on the bestseller lists from July to December. My second novel, `Muskoka Maharani', a wartime love story, was published by Penguin in March 2010. I was born and educated in India, where I finished high school at St Joseph's College, North Point, Darjeeling. I live in Melbourne, Australia and travel the world with my cameras.